Trish, I am always worried about colic and laminitis, but sometimes I worry less. Have you tried putting a heater in your water bucket. Because of where I live (Canada) this is a necessity in the winter to prevent the water from freezing. Several studies have indicated that horses seem to prefer water at about 70F, summer and winter. My horses actually drink more water outside in the winter because it stays warmer than the water in their buckets in the barn.
I'm currently taking an equine nutrition course at the University of Guelph. Our guest speaker on pasture management suggested that if I wasnt going to implement strip grazing so that the horses had access to a limited quantity of pasture each day making sure that the pasture was left at about 6 inches long in the fall and that they were grazing on it before the grass begins to grow would be helpful. If I feel the grass is really rich, I will put grazing muzzles on the horses (as long as I don't have a houdini) rather than keep them in a dry lot. A balancer is used to correct the Calcium/Phosphorus balance of hay as well as provide vitamins/minerals. It is usuallly used for horses who are not receiving concentrates (grain).
